Quotes from Mitch Albom

It's the same for women not being thin enough, or men not being rich enough. It's just what our culture would have you believe. Don't believe it.

He was intent on proving that the word "dying" was not synonymous with "useless.

It's a quiet theft, how time lures people away.

The second wave says, 'No, you don't understand. You're not a wave, you're part of the ocean.' " I smile. Morrie closes his eyes again. "Part of the ocean," he says, "part of the ocean." I watch him breathe, in and out, in and out.

He found himself thinking about his childhood. Why do you drink so much, Maestro? This is not a music question. Are you sad, Maestro? Again, not a music question. I am sad sometimes, Maestro. Practice more. Speak less. You'll be happier. Yes, Maestro. Everyone joins a band in this life. Sometimes, they are the wrong ones.

what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too—even when you're in the dark. Even when you're falling.

The years after graduation hardened me into someone quite different from the strutting graduate.. headed for New York City, ready to offer the world his talent. The world, I discovered, was not all that interested. I wandered around my early twenties, paying rent and reading classifieds and wondering why the lights were not turning green for me.

He told his friends that if they really wanted to help him, they would treat him not with sympathy but with visits, phone calls, a sharing of their problems

A wrestling match. He laughs. Yes, you could describe life that way. So which side wins, I ask? Which side wins? He smiles at me, the crinkled eyes, the crooked teeth. Love wins. Love always wins.

But I can sit here with my dwindling days and look at what I think is important in life. I have both the time - and the reason - to do that.

I didn't want to live anymore," I whispered. "I know. I heard you." "How? I never spoke." "Despair has its own voice. It is a prayer unlike any other.

Do what the Buddhists do. Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks. Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?

Man's instinct is to find a way to live, but who wants to be the last to die?

I realise, two decades after the events of this book, that deep inside it was not dying that truly rattled Morrie. it was being forgotten.

What a waste," he said. "All those people saying all those wonderful things, and Irv never got to hear any of it." Morrie had a better idea. He made some calls. He chose a date. And on a cold Sunday afternoon, he was joined in his home by a small group of friends and family for a "living funeral.

but her absence was like a character in it.

Death is as natural as life. It's part of the deal we made. Everything that gets born, dies. As long as we love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on - in the hearts of all those you have touched and nurtured while you were here.

People are slowly dying everywhere, he said. They are also continuously living. Every moment they draw breath. they can find the glory I put here on Earth, if they look for it.

Small towns have their own heartbeat, no matter how many people come or go.

Mitch, if you're trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down at you anyhow. And if you're trying to show off for people at the bottom, forget it. They will only envy you. Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone.

Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be longing for somebody else's things. On the contrary, you'll be overwhelmed with what comes back.

This is how a legacy is built. One memory at a time.

That's what we're all looking for. A certain peace with the idea of dying. If we know, in the end, that we can ultimately have that peace with dying, then we can finally do the really hard thing." Which is? "Make peace with living.

Why is it so hard to think about dying? "Because," Morrie continued, "most of us all walk around as if we're sleepwalking. We really don't experience the world fully, because we're half-asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do." And facing death changes all that? "Oh, yes. You strip away all that stuff and you focus on the essentials. When you realize you are going to die, you see everything much differently.